


Pincushion

by monsic_buffoon



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Angst, F/M, Rage, Unrequited Love, Varrick Being Oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 08:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3404687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monsic_buffoon/pseuds/monsic_buffoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zhu Li wanted to embrace the joy and uppity atmosphere of the Glacier Spirits Festival. Unfortunately, the task proved near impossible with her boss around, parading his never ending flock of admirers. Stoicism was a primary function of her personality, but sometimes a girl couldn't help to feel a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pincushion

What was to be said about the Glacier Spirits Festival?  

Well, for one it was startlingly beautiful. Zhu Li had grown up in the poorer parts of a city. For her, beauty was more of an experience than anything. A thing she seldom witnessed while growing up. Compared to some of the other places they’d visited, the Southern Water Tribe was incredibly unique. There was an undeniable peculiarity lingering in that frigid air.

A certain enigmatic energy flitted about as the sun set each evening, and cast the cold shadow of the moon. Every night without fail, she would follow Varrick from the docks, bundled in her warmest clothes, to make way and mingle through the festivities. Varrick was the one who insisted on it, claiming there was more than business to be made in these corners, and who were they to skip out on a shindig? She couldn’t help to notice the unusual force driving him. There was a subtle difference in his behavior. An unusual kind of plastic was locked behind his flailing limbs and snarky grin.

As she examined their immediate surroundings it came to her that perhaps the answer was plainer than one would think. Zhu Li peered curiously down every dimmed alley, analyzed every person that dared to say hello, examined every paper lantern decorating the streets. It was hard to imagine a little Varrick running around these parts, exploring the territory, and causing mayhem at every turn. She thought perhaps that was the point.

And yet. The frivolities and generally ecstatic atmosphere were contagious. Even if she was forced to trace the background and observe, while Varrick made his rounds through the exhibits and tents.

Each night had something new to offer, and it seemed that on that particular evening the theme was music. Though the familiar stands of previous evenings were present, they were all circled around one central exhibit; a generously sized stage, and a large dance floor that looped around the premise. It was locked safely over the snowy ground by what appeared to be ice-staples. A constant cycle of people swung their way through the melodic beat of drums and brass.

Varrick had been out there for ages, and Zhu Li had remained ever faithfully by the side lines. Unfortunately, her amusement had dwindled hours ago. Her body, though dressed properly for the weather, was succumbing to the cold. She wasn’t used to this much ice, and keeping still for so long certainly wasn’t helping the matter. Her rear end was beginning to ache from sitting. And lastly, she had grown tired of fighting the bitterness that pricked her every time Varrick swung by with a new woman locked around him.

Admittedly, in the last couple of rounds it appeared that the trading game had ended. Her boss had finally settled on a single long haired beauty in a dark blue gown. Zhu Li wasn’t sure that particular thought suited her any more than the previous ones.

“Zhu Li!”

Zhu Li straightened out. In her contempt she’d allowed her shoulders to slouch slightly. As it happened, Varrick was barreling towards her, alone, and his face portrayed the dictionary definition of distress. Zhu Li catalogued the change, though she hadn’t anticipated it. Only a moments ago when she’d seen him circle by with that same woman, he had seemed perfectly at ease-- or at least to par with the rest of his moods that trip.

Zhu Li stood, and her legs nearly creaked in their relief. Varrick finally screeched to a halt before her.

“Goodness!” he proclaimed, his eyes were even more wild than usual. Several of his hairs had fallen out of place. When he spoke again there was a distinct accusatory tone to his voice, “Where have you been?!”

Zhu Li’s eyebrows bumped, a controlled expression of surprise, “Sir?”

“That ridiculous woman! Who does she think I am? Her husband?! Oh, you should hear her talk, Zhu Li, it’s incredible- That one person can go on, and on, and on for so long, and never really say anything. And you know the the worst part? She wouldn’t let me go- just latched on like some kidna koala otter! Three songs, Zhu Li, _three songs_!”

Where normal people considered three songs a brief and jubilant exchange between two strangers at a festival, it seemed that Varrick’s mind had calculated the number as some sacrilegious symbol of commitment. Zhu Li, because she’d dealt with this for so long, bit back any comments deemed less than necessary, and maintained her calm expression.

“Where’s the lady now?”

Varrick snorted at her formality, “The can, but I’m sure she’ll be back any minute.”

There was something in the way he was staring at her. He expected her to resolve this somehow, but there was more than implication in that look. Zhu Li, was only too familiar with it, only this time the wires weren’t crossing. If he wanted to leave he wouldn’t have bothered with the preamble. It was almost as if he wanted her to--

“...Sir-”

“Come on, Zhu Li, I’m begging you!”

“Sir!”

“ _Zhu Li!_ She’s gonna talk me deaf! More than that- she’s the boring-est person I’ve ever met! It’ll kill me if I have to sit through another _minute_ of it. And- she smells weird. Believe me, in this case, I’d _actually_ be better off with you.”

The way he said it. Zhu Li’s eyebrow twitched.

“I mean-” against all odds his eyes stretched even further, “You know what I mean, now come on! Quickly, before she comes back!”

With that he grabbed her hand, and dragged her out between the rest of the hustling, bustling bodies. The very ones she’d been bitterly, but all together peacefully, watching for the last two hours.

Fortunately, the current tune was a slower one, and the accompanying dance moves weren’t nearly as complex as some of the numbers Zhu Li had witnessed. Regardless, she had very little experience with dance, and so as they stumbled in a fashion that was much less graceful than any of Varrick’s previous rounds. Zhu Li stared pointedly at their feet to avoid tripping over them. Or anything else for that matter.

Varrick made no comment and in all likelihood he simply didn't care. Whatever he was thinking behind those ridiculous blue eyes of his, her foot work barely played into it.

She felt uncomfortably close to a prop in the moment. Though it wouldn't have been her first exploitation in the line of business, it was the first time she'd been forced into the center of everything while it happened.

Frankly, there was a reason her ambitions ended with the role of an assistant.

"Sir-"

"Ah! There she is! Quick!"

She should have known. Zhu Li's hair fanned momentarily as Varrick pulled her even closer. Their bodies pressed tight together by the strength of Varrick's arms, her hands and face caught in between. Palms flattened against his chest, nose crushed into the dip between his collar bone. He smelled faintly of a cologne applied earlier that morning, and of the sweat that gathered from exuberant dancing. Zhu Li flushed then cringed as a bit of white fur from Varrick's coat pressed into her mouth.

It was the closest she'd ever been to him. The closest she'd been to a man for quite some time. She could feel him on every part of her, where his arms steered her around the floor, where his legs pushed hers to and fro. Her breasts pressed into him, and though she was covered in her winter apparel, her senses appeared to be on fire. It was by far the worst part of the ordeal. Her stomach dipped as her thoughts strayed out onto the branches she barely ever dared to breach.

"You're rather tense, aren't you?" His voice was loud in her ear not because of his volume (for once), but because of their close proximity.

Zhu Li's anger flared, her eyebrows furrowed in an abrupt display of frustration. "Your coats in my mouth," she accused.

"Easily fixable," he shifted for her convenience, allowing her chin a higher elevation, and propping it up against the fluffy material. Judging by the smug expression on his face, he considered the dilemma resolved. In actuality, it only worsened the predicament. This new angle snatched away her focus, giving her nothing better to do than to stare at Varrick’s face while their bodies moved together in a way they never had before.

His eyes twitched down, meeting hers, and he raised an eyebrow, "We still have a problem?"

And the way he used we, as if he truly factored in her needs as much as his own. It only served to fan the furious fire within her. _His ridiculous eyes, his echoing voice, his mind, oh that mind-- that body-- how it felt on hers--_

Her voice was spit fire. "What could _ever_ make you think that, sir?"

"Picking up on some sarcasm here, Zhu Li."

The woman simply huffed in response. She was fairly certain this did not weigh into her job description, and while he could make her clean his messes, run around like an idiot, and scrub his feet, she drew the line at romantic pincushion. Her chin dug sharply into his shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Well, don't hold onto me so tightly!"

"I _have_ to! Otherwise she’ll-"

"IKNIK! There you are- oh!"

A distinctly female voice interrupted the foundation of what would surely transform into a degrading argument. It provided a distraction, and for that, Zhu Li was thankful. There was however the little tag along 'oh' of false surprise to consider. It could only have been directed at her, as if the newcomer had only just noticed her, and thought that Varrick had been out dancing on his own.

The two finally broke away from each other, Zhu Li still glaring subtly, and the man in question displaying an expression of aloof --just barely-- politeness.

"Oh, Verra!" He exclaimed after taking an extra long time to recognize her, "You find your bathroom, then?"

"Yes, I did," Verra cleared her throat then smiled uneasily. Likely she would have preferred a euphemism in reference to her basic day to day functions. How lady like. Zhu Li's eyebrow twitched.

"And did you enjoy yourself?"

At this the woman began to laugh much louder than the occasion demanded, "Oh Iknik, your sense of humor is astounding!"

Varrick's eyes flicked down, searching for some sympathy. She met him with the blank neutrality she knew he hated.

"Now!" The woman cooed, and she too turned to face her, "Who's your friend?"

"My-"

"Assistant."

He was the one to glare then, it supplied her with a petty comfort.

"An honorary dance to pass the time," she promised and the woman visibly swelled at the assurance that her target was still single.

"Oh how nice, you are a clever employer!"

"Ah-- yes."

The band slowed to a halt with the end of the song. Zhu Li turned to Varrick with a professional smile. "Thank you for the dance, sir. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

She'd barely distanced herself from the pair when the woman swooped down upon him. Her boss stared after her with pleading eyes as the woman latched on to drag him further into the crowd of dancers. Zhu Li ignored them and stormed, not to her previous position on the bench, but towards the docks at the edge of the city. It was late, and she was going to bed.

 _It served him right_ , she tried to think... A futile gesture when traces of his body’s warmth were still wrapped around her.

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> May or may not be a very delayed response to the Zhurrick Week Dancing prompt... 
> 
> (reviews aren't mandatory, but are definitely appreciated)


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